Château du Clos de Vougeot, la grange viticole de Cîteaux

Vougeot

Cîteaux had received vines from its birth, at Meursault, from Duke Eudes; around 1110 the knights of Vergy gave it land on the Vouge, three leagues from the monastery, and the monks planted there. The place became the most famous of the order's granges: a farm held by lay brothers, with a cellar for the wine, a vat house and, later, four great capstan presses that can still be seen. A bull of Alexander III, in 1164, already protected "the cellar of Vougeot". Around 1330 the monks enclosed the whole vineyard within walls — fifty hectares in a single block, the largest clos of the Côte de Nuits — and, under Clement VI, distinguished three cuvées, one of them a "cuvée of the popes". In 1551 the abbot Jean Loisier added a Renaissance residential range to the buildings of the grange, and it is this château, set in the middle of the vines, that gives the place its silhouette. The Revolution confiscated the estate along with the thirteen thousand hectares of Cîteaux; the clos, sold in 1791, passed from hand to hand, broken up after 1889 among merchants, while Léonce Bocquet bought back and restored the château. Since 1944 the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin has held its chapters there. Here one understands what the white monks, who refused tithes and serfs, meant by living from the work of their hands: an agricultural enterprise of the first order.

Wikipédia — Château du Clos de Vougeot ↗

Getting there : From the D 974 (route des Grands Crus), Vougeot exit, car park at the foot of the château. Open for paying visits all year, with audio guide or guided tour (times on the website of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin); the clos and its walls can be walked freely along the vineyard paths.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound